next story

British Police Vs. The Fashion Police: Thongs Now A No-No For Some UK Cops

According to the UK's Express newspaper,“West Midlands bobbies are under strict orders to turn up with ‘inconspicuous’ underwear of an ‘appropriate colour’ beneath their uniforms” meaning no lacy red thongs, among other unmentionables. How exactly will superiors know what skivvies the officers pulled on that morning? Well

It’s been rumored that there will be spot checks. Huh? Does this not strike you as a lawsuit in the making? Seriously, if your boss stipulated what type of underwear you must wear then said someone would be checking to make sure that you were following the new intimate dress code, you ‘d be headed straight to HR, no? Understandably, the officers are outraged:

“A female constable said she was ‘horrified’ at the thought of her underwear being inspected by her superiors. ‘If I wear a pink thong I’m in trouble for exposing myself, but if I wear a nice sensible pair of knickers I’m going to get hauled up for exposing a VPL (visible panty line),’ she said. ‘I don’t know what they expect of me. I’d be better off going commando and not wearing any knickers at all.’” Similar guidelines have been instated for male officers also.

In response to the uproar “a spokesman for West Midlands Police said that it was important that officers ‘adopt a common- sense approach’ to the type of underwear they put on before going on duty.” Hey West Midlands’ higher-ups: To me common sense says police officers put their safety on the line to protect citizens who don’t really care what kind of panties they wear when doing it. So why should you?

What do you think about this underwear ban? What would you do if something similar was demanded in your workplace? And have you ever worked somewhere that had some kind of crazy style regulation? Do tell!